Performance Ram

[MrGreen 0]

Hi. I recently made a thread asking for suggestion to my computer upgrade. I was going to upgrade to a i7 2600K and a Asus p8p67 Deluxe. I have 3 sticks of 2GB Mushkin Redline 1600Mhz CL6 ram, which gives me 3 options, 1: Keep them in flex mode (Dual channel + Single channel), 2: buy a new 2x2GB Kit of the same Ram and run them in 4x2GB, or 3: Buy a new kit of 2x4GB Ram. I've now made the purchase and the CPU, motherboard, and an Intel 320 160Gb SSD is waiting for me in their boxes :) The reason why I'm making this thread is that option 3 is actually cheaper for me, and I get to buy higher clocked 2x4GB ram sticks.I have 2 kits that I'm looking at which are cheaper than a 2x2GB kit of Mushkin ram would cost me, these are: G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 PC16000/2000MHz CL9 2x4GB (F3-16000CL9D-8GBRM) and Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC16000/2000MHz CL9 2x4GB (CMX8GX3M2A2000C9) In the earlier thread some views were that a higher clock frequency of the Ram was actually better than tighter timings, especially if the timings were relatively tight too.Are any of these kits worth buying over the mushkin ram, if the price is lower or the same? And if so, which one would you recommend? PS: There were other kits that had the same or similar specs, but as I'm using the Noctua NH-D14 I can only use certain Rams because of clearance limitations. Thanks in advance

[NGX 1]

Why not just use 2 of your current sticks and keep the third as a spare?

[MrGreen 0]

Well, 4gb just feels a bit too tight. With applications like active sky evolutiom, ndac, vroute etc in the background I'm sometimes close to an oom and might get weird artifacts if i alt + enter when using a pmdg aircraft. 4gb, I dunno. I'd much rather have 8gb than 4gb.

[VirginAus737 0]

Yes, I feel I am right on the line with 4GB. You won't really see any FPS increase with performance RAM, maybe a 2% increase or something.

[NGX 1]

In that case I'd suggest your option 3. Both are great quality. I'm a fan to Corsair so I'm going to recommend it, but I doubt it would matter. Whichever you want really.

[VirginAus737 0]

I would easily go for G.Skill again. They have awesome pricing and so far, for me, have been just fine. But then, corsair is very good.

[cmeeks 8]

I'm running those Corsair sticks at 2133 (9-11-10-28-1T). They're decent sticks of memory. I just saw on newegg that their rating is off the charts - 89% of 27 reviewers voted 5 stars! Not to mention they now go for $105 whereas I paid something like $175 for them back in January. As Andrew said above, performance memory might make about a 2% difference - but 8GB is certainly recommended to prevent OOM errors.

[MrGreen 0]

Thanks everyone, I'll go with option three and the corsairs then. I was actually going to ask you, Corey, which sticks you were using. Now I know :)

[MrGreen 0]

Reading the Asus P8P67 QVL I found out that 2000Mhz memory speed isn't supported, only 1866 and 2133, is this true? And if so, would I be able to run mine at 2133 like yours, Corey, or was that a one-hit-wonder? :)

[cmeeks 8]

2000MHz isn't supported with any of the Sandy Bridge boards. There's always a chance that it might not OC to 2133. If it's not too pricey to pick up a set rated at 2133 CL9, then that would probably be a safer route.

[dazz 69]

Reading the Asus P8P67 QVL I found out that 2000Mhz memory speed isn't supported, only 1866 and 2133, is this true? And if so, would I be able to run mine at 2133 like yours, Corey, or was that a one-hit-wonder? :)

My RAM is rated 2000 CL7 and works at 2133 CL8 with all 4 slots populated and two unmatched sets of 4GB no problem, so it's not unusual